The Thing, American/Canadian movie (2011)

Now, I can hear you thinking : “The guy has finally lost it, he’s doing reviews now for movies that he has already reviewed before”. I admit, I’m getting older, and my mind may not be what it used to be, but no this is not the same film that I did a post for two weeks ago. No ladies and gentlemen, even though the movie bears the same name as the 1982 original, what he have here is a prequel. I am usually not really a fan of prequels. The thing is (yes here we go again with the puns), as you already know what happens in the film that comes after the prequel, sometimes that robs you of some excitement. That is especially true with characters that might appear in both movies. If someone is alive in the original film, you can’t very well kill him or her off in the prequel. But as always there are certain exceptions and this is definitely one of them.

This is why I don’t go on blind dates anymore.

It is the year 1982 and in Antarctica a group of Norwegian researchers make a startling discovery. A gigantic alien spacecraft that has been buried for hundreds of years under the ice has been uncovered. As if this wasn’t enough, the sole occupant of the ship is found frozen in a block of ice nearby. One of the Norwegians, Dr. Sander Halvorson calls in the help of the American paleontologist Kate Lloyd, to assist with what is undoubtely the find of the century. When she arrives at the Norwegian base together with a group of Americans, she is stunned by what they have found. Soon however, the amazement turns into sheer horror. It appears that the thing that has been found frozen in the ice, isn’t dead. What’s more, it has escaped, and is now loose in the base able to take on any organic form it absorbs. Kate will have to fight in order to stay alive, but who can she trust…..?

Go Ripley…..erm Kate.

For the life of me I still don’t understand why this movie got so much negative press at the time of it’s release. Is it as good as the original 1982 film? No it isn’t. The original is a classic and it is hard to reach the same level as a movie that many consider to be one of the best horrorfilms ever made. Does it come close though? I would say: absolutely! One of the things that this film does incredibly well is pay attention to some of the details of the classic movie. Did you ever wonder how the axe that was found by Kurt Russell in the 1982 version got stuck in the wall? This movie gives you an answer to that. As an enormous fan of the original, I loved little details like that.

Yes……this is definitely disturbing, I could not agree more.

The characters for this prequel were not as interesting as the ones found in the 1982 movie. That said I absolutely loved the role of Kate played by actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead. If I were to make a comparison, she reminded me a lot of Ellen Ripley from the Alien franchise. Kate is a strong woman, able to keep a clear head in a truly horrifying situation. And what’s more she can really take of herself, which she demonstrates quite often throughout the film. Most of the other characters just did not have enough depth to grow real attached to, despite being played by some well known actors like Joel Edgerton and Ulrich Thomsen. But it was not something that bothered me as there were enough other things to enjoy in this movie.

It’s really okay to be afraid Kate.

As for the special effects, they were absolutely amazing. Where the original film did not always show the creature in all it’s horrifying glory, this movie did the exact opposite. Pretty much right from the start, we are shown a few truly terrifying versions of the monster. Lovers of creepy creatures definitely will get their fix in this film. The original only used practical effects, while the prequel also relied on CGI special effects. But these pretty much looked almost the same as the effects in the classic movie, something that I also loved about this film. Last but not least the end of this movie is simply put absolutely perfect, and the first time I saw it, I had goosebumps all over. It was a great homage to the original movie, and as a fan I could not have asked for a better ending.

Even a good old fashioned autopsy isn’t what it used to be.

If it has not already become clear, I really loved this film. While not as good as the original, this was a movie that really had respect for it’s source material which in my opinion it definitely showed. Being a huge fan of the original movie (if you haven’t yet read my review for that one you can find it here), I could not have wished for a better film. Yes it had characters that could have been handled a little better maybe, but other than that this movie is great entertainment for horror-and science fiction fans alike. I highly recommend this film to anyone who loves the original and is willing to at least keep an open mind for this one. I guarantee that this movie is a thrill ride from start to finish.

32 thoughts on “The Thing, American/Canadian movie (2011)”

Being a fan of horror, I know I’ll get some slack for saying this, I have seen this version of The Thing before the original version. I agree with you that this was a good scary movie which kind of wanted to get me to explore creature films more back in I think 2012 when I first saw it. If there is little details like the axe appearing to make a correlation between the two films it now rises the original to the top spot of my plan to watch list.

Haha, well you won’t get any slack from me at all 😊 Trust me, I have seen a lot of moviesmovies but it’s impossible to see everything, so there are quite a lot of classic films that I have missed as well.
But absolutely there are a lot of cool things in this movie that pay homage to the original, which is why I loved it so much 😊 Even though the original, despite it being older, is the superior movie, this one was almost just as much fun. I hope you will enjoy the 1982 version as well when you get around to it 😀

Your welcome, both Things (and yes this sentence sounds weird I know) are seriously cool horrormovies and really rank amongst my alltime favorite ones 😊 Hope you will enjoy the movie when you get around to it 😀

As I said on your last post, I enjoyed this film and also didn’t understand why it got slated. However, given I have had time to think on it I imight have the answer. I saw this movie first, as I was advised to watch this one first that way I got the whole thing in chronological order, particularly the end of this and the begining of the other. Not having seen the original, I had nothing to compare this to and enjoyed it. And then enjoyed the original too. Plus, Thingu, of course. Noot noo…

Haha…yes Thingu who can forget that 😊
I don’t know about your theory though. It might be true for done people, but then again I saw the original first, and this one afterwards, and I still enjoyed it immensely. Some hardcore fans of a movie can be very hard to please no matter how well a movie might turn out. One of the things I heard about this one is the fact that the creature had a lot more exposure than in the original, which made it less mysterious. But thinking back, even in the original movie there were still quite a number of events where you saw the creature. So I guess it’s just one of those movie mysteries that will never be solved 😂

I always thigh that the trailer for this one looked better than the critics were saying the film was. It’s one of those films that I keep an eye for and will pick up if it appears in my local used DVD shop, if fit no other reason than to see hire it feels compared to the original for me.

This movie really had some very unfair reviews at the time of it’s release. I am a huge fan of the original as mentioned in my review, and found enough things to really enjoy in this film, especially all the small and sometimes very subtle references to the 1982 classic. Hope you will be able to find it and enjoy it for what is is 😊

You’re making me really want to track this down and watch it which is cruel since tiiime. I have no tiiime. I’ve been feeling an urge to binge my favorite TV series too. Why is my mind doing this to me?

Lol….you don’t have to say sorry, that comment was seriously funny 😂😂
Yeah, sorry about making you want to see this. I promise to be more careful in the future 😂
As for why your mind is doing this? No idea…if you figure it out let me know, as my mind keeps doing the same 😂😂

Absolutely, I saw a making off of this prequel and they pointed out quite a few things I did not even see the first time around. All these easter eggs are definitely what makes the movie such a terrific watch 😊

Perhaps all that waiting in the heavy snow has given you brain freeze and you must question your sanity..but one can simply say this was a great read since it is about the much loved Thing. I loved the characters of the first movie, it had the slightest dry humour in places and it just worked as a group, whereas I didn’t feel the connection strongly with thus movie. Will I call it a prequel? No. I felt like they had to try and forcefully come up with how it would tie in with the original movie in places and there were alot of scenes that seemed all too familiar, liiemthe infamous huddle together and check who’s who scene, however I really enjoyed viewing it as a stand alone virus like movie. The special effects for the creature (which I read were from makers that were used to design the creatures in District 9), were done so beautifully in a grotesque manner and there were unique scenes in that itself. (That face joining..).

I shall wait alone in the snow with my trusty flamethrower at guard. I hope I don’t die because I floss.

Haha, yeah who knows….I might have brain freeze, might be worth checking out lol 😂😂
I completely agree that the characters are this movies weakest part. Except for Kate, the rest of the team was pretty much forgettable. I loved the face joining (as much as one can say that one loves something like that haha 😂😂), but I also enjoyed the scene aboard the alien ship. That was very cool to see.
Lol…yeah it might be good to keep that flamethrower near you. I floss as well 😂😂

For me, it just felt a little TOO similar to the previous version, so much so that it felt more like a remake. To its credit it did feel like a faithful attempt at it, but on the other hand it never did anything as good as or better than the Carpenter one and didn’t do anything to set itself apart from it either, and so it just felt redundant to me.
However, it’s been so long since I watched it and you made such a compelling argument for it that I think I’ll give it another chance.

Yeah, I guess you do have a point there: the movie has definitely quite a number of similar scenes, but on the other hand it also has quite a number of things that are unique (like the visit to the spaceships interior 😊). The things I really liked are the small little easter eggs from the first film. Hope you will enjoy it the second time around better (sometimes that happens 😉). Thanks for your comment 😀

Those alien monsters are so ugly looking! Research discovery is always cool to watch. This movie must give you adrenaline rush huh? I do like strange discovery, but I probably won’t watch this just because the monsters will scare me hehe..

Haha, yeah the monsters in this one are really scary. Even though it is a movie about research, it is most definitely a horrormovie. But yeah I had fun watching this one. It had been a while since I last seen it 😊

Awesome review, Michel! You made me laugh with your first sentence hahahah XD You’re definitely not getting old 😛 (just mature, sshh)
I’m glad you loved this one so much, even though it’s not as good as the original. I haven’t watched either of them because I don’t enjoy this type of films but I totally believe your judgement!
It’s great when remakes/prequels pay homage to their counterparts 🙂 Makes true fans feel really special!

Haha, glad you enjoyed it, and ofcourse thank you for the kind comment,always appreciate it. No I know these movies are not your cup of team but you might enjoy another movie Indid a review for earlier this month called Manchester by the Sea. It was a drama movie with a heartbreaking sort, and absolutely terrific acting 😊

Loved the original and also thoroughly enjoyed this one. Especially the effort they went to to leave a footprint for the film that follows. It such a cool concept and the execution was fantastic. Great review, I couldn’t agree with you more!

Thank you very much for the kind words, appreciate it 😊 While the original will always be the best (how could it not lol😂), this one did a great job in establishing some great background for the original….and then there was that ending : so cool 😀

Awesome review! The Thing is my favourite film. Always will be. Much like you, I enjoyed all the little bits and pieces that tied in with the original. Going to have to dig the DVD out just to relive it.

Thank you very much 😊 For sure, it’s one of those horrormovies that I watch pretty much every two years or so, because it’s so awesome. Despite all the negative press for this one, I loved it, which pretty much shows that critical reviews aren’t always the truth 😊

That was a really great game 😀 I played it back on the old PlayStation 2 console and I liked the way the game used the paranoid system that really reminded me of the movie where everyone that just become more and more distrustful of each other as the movie progressed.

"Consider, can the universe be justifiably called infinite? Doubtful. It may not have a discernible end, but it had a beginning and its component parts definitely have a limited cosmological shelf-life. Splitting hairs or not, if history tells us anything, it's that scientists often make very poor poets. We're all just a ship of fools chasing phantoms, heedless of what really underwrites natural law." - Okabe Rintaro